In the pursuit of maintaining a clean and hygienic domestic environment, various cleaning and sterilization appliances are available. Such devices include sterilizers for grooming utensils, tooth brushes, cooking utensils and infant feeding equipment. However, devices for hygienic sterilization of garments are less common.
Conventional washing machines do not typically reach the temperatures required to effectively sanitize clothing, meaning bacteria may survive the washing process and continue to grow on the garments. There are commercially available sterilizing washing machines that provide cold water with ozone. However such devices suffer the draw back that any remaining ozone residue may cause an environmental safety hazard if it escapes into the local environment. Washing machines are also available that provide a wash cycle capable of heating water up to around 95° C. However, a conventional domestic water supply, which typically contains a number of impurities, is not ideal for cleaning clothes even at high temperature. Such devices typically also consume a large volume of water and are of a bulky size.
WO 96/22795 A1 discloses a hot air sterilizer comprising a sterilizer chamber and a heat radiator subassembly disposed in the sterilizer chamber. The heat radiator subassembly comprises a heater and an impeller. Air is warmed up by the heater and the heated air is circulated by the impeller through the sterilizer chamber to sterilize appliances disposed in the sterilizer chamber.
GB 210 883 A discloses an apparatus for disinfecting clothes and WO 2006/063569 A2 discloses an apparatus for decontaminating temperature-sensitives objects.